Improvement in faucet-breech guns



- A. D. PERRY. 'PIREABM;

Patented Dec. 11, 1849.

UNITED STATES PATENT, OFFICE.

' ALONZO 1 PERRY, or NEW YO K, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN FAUCET-BREECH GUNS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 6,945, dated December11, 184 9.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Anonzo D. PERRY, of the city, county, and State ofNew York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Fire-Arms; andthat the following is a full, clear, and exact description of theprinciple or character which distingliishes them from all other thingsbefore known, and of the manner of making, constructing, and using thesame,

reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, making part of thisspecification, in which- Figure 1 is a plan, Fig. 2 a side elevation,and Fig. 3 a longitudinal section, of a gun onmy improved plan; andFigs. 4 and 5, crosssections of the same, taken at the lines A a and B bof Fig. 3.

The same letters indicate like parts in all the figures.

My invention relates to that class of firearms in which the charge isintroduced at the breech into a vibrating cylinder, which receives thecharge in one position, and then, by turning a part of a revolution,brings said charge on a line with the bore of the barrel,

and into position to be discharged.

In all the fire-arms of which I have any knowledge made prior to myinvention in which the charge was introduced into a vibratin g breechplaced within a fixed chamber,

the periphery of the breech constitutes the bearing and turning surfaceall around the chamber, to which it closely fits.

I have found by repeated experiments that the objection to this is, thatthe cylinder soon becomes fixed in consequence of the accumulation ofcondensed gases, which will be driven by the force of the discharge intothe closestfitting joint, and after a few discharges causes the surfacesto unite with an adhesion so strong that the arm ceases to be operative.

The object of the first part of my invention, to avoid the defect abovepointed out, consists in hanging a vibrating breech, which is inclosedin a chamber, on journals, that its periphery may turn freely in thechamber; and

7 this part of my invention also consists in combining, with the abovemode of hanging the vibrating breech in a chamber, the making of agroove or grooves in the inner periphery of the chamber around the boreof the barrel, and

extending out at the side or sides, for the free escape of gases andsmoke from the discharge, to prevent the accumulation of the deposits ofsmoke on the periphery of the breech and chamber, thus preventing allclogging or danger of fire being driven back into the charger. Thesecond part of my invention consists in combining, with a vibratingbreech, a chargeholder for containing a series of cartridges or charges,and located in the breech of the stock, so that by vibrating the breechits mouth can be presented to the charge-holder to receive thecartridge, and then turnedback to bring it in a line with the bore ofthe barrel for the discharge, the turning of the breech cutting off allcommunication with the charge-holder; and this part of my invention alsoconsists in combining, with the ob arge-holder and vibrating breech, atransferring-lever, which takes the cartridge from the charge-holder andtran sfers it into the breech.

Theposition of the charge-holder relatively to the vibrating breech issuch that in the act of discharging the gun the recoil tends to closethe opening into the charge-holder, and thereby prevents any fire beingthrown back "into the charge-holder or magaiine, and secures them fromdanger of explosion.

In the accompanying drawings, a represents the barrel attached to thebreech-piece b,which is formed with a cylindrical chamber, 0, with whichthe bore of the barrel communicates. The axis of this chamber is atright angles with the bore of the barrel. A groove, d, is formed in thischamber around the. bore of the barrel, and concentric therewith, withtwo lateral branches, 0 0, leading to the outside of the breech-piece,one on each side, for the free escape of any smoke or gases which maypass between the breech and the rear end of the barrel; or these groovescan be variously arranged to produce the same effect.

The vibrating breech f 'is a cylinder fitted to the chamber 0 so as toturn therein freely, and at the ends it is provided with journals g g,which are fitted to and turn in the side plates of the breech-piece, andone of them extends out beyond the side plate sufliciently far to carrya hand-lever, h, by which the breech is operated.

The chamber, 6, for the charge is made in the v of four tubes, at m m m,attached together the tubes may, in succession, be brought in a diameterto leave suificient strength of metal to resist the force of thedischarge.

The breech-piece has a hole, j, through the tbp, which communicates withthe chamber of the vibratingbreech when turned in the proper direction.Bythis means the gun may be used for loading at the breech without theuse of the chargergholder.

The vibrating breech is turned by the lever tobring thejchainber i tocoincide with the hole j -i|rthe;b rech piece. The charge is intro ducedby =haiid, 1;he vibrating breech turned until theeliambencoincides withthe bore of' the barrel, .when-jt can be discharged but whenthe-.icharfie'iisto be received from the charge-holder, theniit isturned a little more than'halfiiv'aya'grouml until the chamber 0'coincidesavithiadiole, k, in the ln-eech-piecenearly opposite' -:to "thebarrel, and which communicates'with ithecharge-holder l, which consistsabout a common axis, there being a journal at each end, on which theyall turn, that each of line with the ehole or how k.

The tubes are all charged with a series of cm'tridges, one of the tubesput in a line with the bore, and the cartridges transferred one by oneto the chamber in the vibrating breech, and when one tube is exhaustedthe next is turned in line, and so on until the whole is exhausted. Thetubes are then recharged through a hole, a, in the shoulder-piece, whichis covered with a movable cap, 0. i

.To hold the series of tubes in place, there is a plate, 1), at theirrear end, with four ratchetteeth, with a spring-pawl, q, which admits ofturningthe tubes in one direction only, the pressure of the spring beingsuflicient to hold them in place except when force is applied to turnthem, which may be done in any manner desired.

When a cartridge is to be transferred to the chamber in the vibratingbreech, the muzzle of the gun is dropped down, which causes thecartridges to descend by gravity toward the chamber of the vibratingbreech. I At the time ot'eommencing this operation, by reason of aprevious operation, a cartridge, r, lies in the permanent part :of thecharge-holder, between the cylinder andthe next succeedingcartridge, 1',that is held bya stop-lever, 8, located in a proper cavityinthebreech-piece, and having a projecting pin, t, on the rear end of it,which passes ;through ,a-hole in the tube m, to hold the cartridge r,and to prevent the one, 1*, from running back, audth'e other cartridge,1', from moving toward the vibrating breech.

When the muzzle of the gun is depressed, the cartridge -r is carried bygravity against the periphery of the vibrating breech, so asto enter thechamber, when the breech is turned back to bring its chamber l3 line toreceive the cartridge.

A lever, u, which turns on a fulcrum-pin at v, is drawn back by thehand, which brings its arm 10 against the back of the cartridge to carryit home in the chamber of the vibrating. breech, and this movement ofthe lever to libcrates the stop-lever s, so that its forward end may beelevated by the spring w. This liberates the next cartridge, 1'', whichruns-down until its forward end strikes a projection, w, on the forwardend of the stop-lever, which prevents it from going too far toward thevibratin g breech. The vibrating breech is then turned to bring'thecartridge which it has received in'a line with the barrel. The lever uis then' moved forward to its original position, which brings its arm 10against the stop-lever, and depresses its forward end and elevates itsrear end, that the pin or stop t may hold the cartridge opposite theretoin the proper place. The pills of fuhninating pfliming are put into amagazine, y, in the breec piece througha hole in the side plate, coveredby a springvalve, z, and this magazine communicates with the peripheryof the vibrating breech by a hole of such capacity as to permit one pillto pass freely, but not more than one at a time.

The touch-hole a, in the periphery of the vibrating breech issufliciently large to receive a pill, and the whole of the magazine(shown by red lines) is so located that in turning the vibrating breechback to receive a charge, either by hand or from the magazine, thetouch-hole passes it in the back and in the forward movement, and inpassing a pill will drop into the touch-hole, and as it passes by thishole twice, it is sure to receive the priming.

When the vibrating breech is in the required position for the discharge,the touchhole lies directly under a hole, I), in the top of thebreech-pin, through which the hammer of the cock 0 strikes; but if thelock should go of when the vibrating breech is not in position, thedischarge cannot take place, for the priming cannot be struck by thehammer.

A The lock may be made in any manner de sired.

The charge-holdermay be a single stationary tube, or with two, three,four, or more attached about an axis of rotation.

It will be obvious from the foregoing that the first part of myinvention may be employed without the second, although the best resultswill be obtained when all are used in connection.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

1. In combination with a vibrating breech turning within a chamber, themaking of a groove or grooves in the inner periphery of the chamber, andextending out at the side or sides thereof, for the purpose and in themanner substantially as herein described.

2. I also claim the revolving charge-holder time when the muzzle of thegun is depressed, located in the breech of the stock, substanand bywhich it is forced home into the vibrattially in the manner and for thepurpose speci: ing breech, as described.

fied. I A. D. PERRY.

3. And, finally, I claim the combination of .Witnesses: the levers s andw, by means of which one R. W. SOWBER,

charge only is permitted to fall forward at a A. P. BROWN.

